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It’s a well-known fact that the UFC loves to book rematches. So much so that some of the biggest fights in UFC history have been rematches, including Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier and Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen.
On a number of occasions, however, the UFC has been unable to book a rematch of a fight that fans have actually been desperate to see again.
The following fights left UFC fans wanting more, but for various reasons – one of the fighters retiring, or the UFC simply moving on – a rematch was never booked.
Here are five rematches that fans would love to have seen, but the UFC never booked.
#5. Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit (UFC 143)
When Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit met for the interim UFC welterweight title in February 2012 at UFC 143, it felt like the kind of fight that would probably develop into a multi-fight rivalry.
The two stars engaged in a war of words prior to the fight, and even saw a series of UFC PrimeTime dedicated to their preparation, something that only made the clash feel like an even bigger deal in the eyes of the fans.
And while the fight didn’t quite live up to expectations as an all-time classic, it was an excellent clash between two seriously high-level fighters. It also ended in controversy, as Condit was handed a win via unanimous decision, with scores of 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46, despite many fans feeling Diaz had done enough for the victory.
The meme “Diaz 1, 2, 5” spread around the internet like wildfire – the numbers referring to the rounds that fans claimed the Stockton favorite had won. With undisputed champion Georges St-Pierre on the shelf, it felt like a rematch was inevitable.
Instead, though, Condit held onto his interim crown and waited for the eventual fight with GSP, which came nine months later at UFC 154. Meanwhile, Diaz sat on the shelf and stewed over his loss.
Diaz would eventually return in a losing effort to St-Pierre at UFC 158, but despite a rematch with Condit still seeming viable, the UFC were never able to book it – largely due to Diaz’s inactivity in the years that followed.
And when Diaz announced his return to the UFC earlier this year, rather than returning to the well for another fight with ‘The Natural Born Killer’, the promotion instead matched him with a different former foe in Robbie Lawler.
It now seems like a Diaz/Condit rematch is unlikely to happen, meaning fans will simply have to continue to debate the result at UFC 143 instead.
#4. Holly Holm vs. Ronda Rousey (UFC 193)
By 2015, the UFC’s first ever women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was not only one of the biggest stars in MMA, she was also one of the sport’s most dominant fighters.
Rousey managed to defend her UFC title on six occasions, defeating the likes of Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano, largely in one-sided fashion. Essentially, nobody seemed able to test her.
That all changed at UFC 193, when striking ace Holly Holm was able to execute the perfect gameplan, avoiding the wild rushes of ‘Rowdy’ and escaping her on the ground too. One expertly-placed head kick later, and Rousey’s title reign had come to an end.
Given Rousey’s star power and the fact that she’d been such a dominant champion, it seemed inevitable that the UFC would book an immediate rematch, as they’d done for other fallen greats when they lost their titles.
However, after suffering such a dramatic loss, ‘Rowdy’ simply wasn’t ready to return to the octagon when the UFC would’ve liked, meaning any idea of a rematch was shelved.
Holm instead defended her title against Tate and subsequently suffered her first loss in the UFC via submission. In turn, Tate then dropped the title to Amanda Nunes in her first title defense just four months later.
That meant that when Rousey was ready to come back a little more than a year after her loss to Holm, it was for a fight with Nunes, not ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’. And despite a dramatic build to the fight, Rousey was simply outclassed on the feet and fell to a knockout loss in the first round.
‘Rowdy’ would retire from MMA after the loss, meaning that she would never get a chance to avenge the defeat to Holm and UFC fans were never given the chance to see what was largely considered one of the most highly anticipated rematches in promotional history.
#3. Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes (UFC 247)
Jon Jones is undoubtedly one of the most dominant fighters in UFC history. The former UFC light heavyweight champion essentially defeated everyone in his path from his UFC debut in 2008 through to 2020, with victims including Daniel Cormier, Lyoto Machida and Alexander Gustafsson.
But at UFC 247 – with Jones in the midst of his second lengthy title reign – it felt like he’d finally met his match.
Undefeated prospect Dominick Reyes went toe-to-toe with the longtime champion for five rounds, and in the eyes of many fans, ‘The Devastator’ had done enough to claim what would’ve been a seismic victory. However, the judges on hand saw the fight differently and awarded it to Jones with scores of 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46.
The fans certainly didn’t seem to agree, and so it was widely expected that the UFC would simply book an immediate rematch to decide once and for all who the better man was.
However, that didn’t seem to be in Jones' best interests, despite the UFC apparently being willing to make the fight. Instead, Jones signaled his interest to move up to heavyweight and vacated his title.
Reyes ended up facing off with Jan Blachowicz for the vacant title, and despite being favored to win, ended up being knocked out in the second round, leaving his hopes of becoming a UFC champion dead in the water.
And due to the loss – and another at the hands of Jiri Prochazka – any hopes of a potential rematch with Jones also went up in smoke, as any interest the UFC had in making the fight was long gone.
#2. Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks (UFC 167)
By the time he fought Johny Hendricks at UFC 167, Georges St-Pierre had established himself as one of the greatest fighters in UFC history. ‘Rush’ had held the UFC welterweight title since 2008, and had defended it a record eight times.
But while he’d dominated the likes of Carlos Condit, Josh Koscheck and Nick Diaz, GSP simply couldn’t do the same to Hendricks. ‘Bigg Rigg’ hurt him with strikes, became one of the few fighters to take him down, and when the fight ended, it looked like St-Pierre’s title reign was over.
However, the judges saw things the other way, handing St-Pierre a razor-close decision victory. Even big fans of the Canadian believed that he’d probably gotten away with one, and fully expected the UFC to book an immediate rematch.
But despite UFC president Dana White claiming that St-Pierre “owed” everyone – from the UFC and the fans to Hendricks – the rematch, the Canadian was having none of it, and instead took an indefinite leave of absence from the UFC.
His UFC welterweight title was vacated, and although Hendricks would claim it by beating Robbie Lawler, he never did get his rematch with GSP, who would return at UFC 217 nearly four years later, coincidentally at the same event that saw ‘Bigg Rigg’ fight for the final time in the UFC.
And in turn, this meant that UFC fans were deprived of finding out whether Hendricks really was the man who could’ve dethroned GSP in his prime.
#1. Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor (UFC 229)
Unlike most of the fights on this list, the clash between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor was not a close fight by any means. Instead, Nurmagomedov largely dominated ‘The Notorious’ Irishman en route to a crushing fourth-round submission win. However, that didn’t mean that UFC fans around the world weren’t clamoring for a rematch between the two.
Major fans of McGregor were obviously desperate to see it to find out if their favorite would be able to garner any kind of revenge over his nemesis, while fans of Khabib, and those who didn’t like McGregor, simply wanted to see the Irishman take another beating.
The UFC, meanwhile, seemed equally happy to push the idea of a potential Khabib vs. McGregor rematch – an understandable sentiment given that the fight pulled in a UFC record of over two million pay-per-view buys.
However, the one man who didn’t seem at all interested in a rematch was Nurmagomedov. Despite continually slinging insults at McGregor over social media, ‘The Eagle’ always maintained he didn’t want to fight the former two-division champ again.
Essentially, he felt that he had nothing to prove, and didn’t really want to give the Irishman any more of a platform to display his disrespect.
So rather than face McGregor in a mega-money rematch, Khabib instead defeated Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje before deciding to step away from the UFC for good, fulfilling a promise made to his mother.
And despite the two rivals still sniping at one another on social media, three years down the line from their first meeting, it now seems that any hope of a Nurmagomedov/McGregor rematch is long gone.
